Research Is A Dangerous Business

When people talk about risk at work, they normally mean the risk of getting laid off, terminated, losing a business deal, and probably encountering some minor accidents like electrocution while charging their electronics. 

Unlike these risks, the risks you encounter during research are far more unpredictable because you work with unpredictable subjects; the weather (climate scientists), wild animals (zoologists), chemicals (chemists), toxic jellies (marine biologists), unpredictable monkeys (lab scientists) and sometimes, the product of your own research - worm holes and such (physicists). Even in social sciences, the research is often far more dangerous than your average nine-to-five job.

Research isn't your typical 9-5 job.

Image: www.the-scientist.com

One particular technique in psychology, called participant observation, involves taking part in the activities of those you want to study. For example, if you wish to study the drug cartel, you would need to actually get your hands dirty. Sociologist Mick Bloor, a professor at the Cardiff School of Social Sciences once ended up in a bar fight while studying male prostitution in Glasgow. Lorraine Dowler from the Pennsylvania State University was forced to flee when her interviewee became the target of a street-level assassination attempt. Social scientist Frank Burton woke up one morning to find a submachine gun pointed at him. The body of Ken Pryce was found washed up on a Caribbean beach after investigating criminology in Jamaica.

These are just of the few workplace hazards that face researchers at work. We have yet to include stories of marine biologists who have face sharks and other dangerous marine predators, zoologists battling malaria, herpetologists getting bitten by snakes, and conservationists and medical scientists battling fanatic animal-rights activists. All very real possibilities in the modern world.

In April 2013, an animal-rights group that calls itself Fermare Green Hill (or Stop Green Hill) occupied an animal facility at the University of Milan, Italy, at the weekend, releasing mice and rabbits and mixing up cage labels to confuse experimental protocols. Certainly makes a strong case for microchip IDS and tattoos. Researchers at the university said that it will take years to recover their work. Michela Matteoli, a neurobiologist who works on autism and other disorders and lost most of her own research in the attack, says that she found some research students crying in the disrupted facility on Monday morning. Many of the animals at the facility were genetic models for psychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia.

A study conducted in 1994 by Brian D Crandall and Peter W Stahl intended to investigate whether humans could digest bones. They trapped some shrews and after skinning and brief evisceration, they boiled one of the carcasses for approximately 2 minutes before swallowing it whole; head, limbs, body and tail. Without chewing. Talk about taking one for the team.

So it's very disrespectful for anyone to brush aside any researcher's project and label them as useless.

Research is not just for geeks. It's also for James Bond. 

Why Don't Penguins Fly?

Because it's energetically-inefficient to be both a diver and a flyer at the same time. 

A recent study on a penguin-like seabird, the thick-billed murre, shows that it's inefficient to be both; be a Jack of all trade and a master of none.

This is probably how penguins flew several million years ago. Image: www.polartrec.com

Murres are horrible aviators. They beat their wings really fast and they land awkwardly. They fare better in the water, but still not as good as penguins.

The study, conducted by Kyle Elliot et al of the University of Manitoba, Canada, shows that when flying, murres burn energy at 31 times their rate at rest. It's the highest energy-spending rate known for bird. Other animals burn energy at 25 times their rate at rest when working the hardest. In the water, a murre also burn more energy diving compared to a penguin of the same size.

A group of diving murres. Image: travel.nationalgeographic.com

But flying has its own advantages. A murre can escape land predators taking to the sky while penguins, well, can only waddle like a penguin. That's why there are no penguins in the North Pole and no polar bears and arctic foxes in the Antarctic.

So in a way, a murre is the bridge between the flying and non-flying birds, though they're not especially good at both. Evolution is truly fascinating is it not?

How The Zebra Got Its Stripes?

So the other day I was driving my kids around and they asked how did the zebra gets its stripes.

The explanation I saw from documentaries stated that zebra evolved its stripes to confuse the lion.

Lions are color blind,as are many cats,  so a group of rampaging zebras can be extremely confusing and headache-inducing. With the tall African savannah grasses, one can easily see that the stripes, combined with the tall grasses could easily break up the lines of a zebra and be confusing to predators.  Sounds right, so I figured that wrapped up that little science lesson.  But I got home and did some research on the subject.

I found an entirely plausible other reason for the strips. Gabor Horvath and colleagues from Hungary and Sweden have come up with another explanation: zebra's stripes ward off blood-sucking parasites.

Image: animals.howstuffworks.com

Like us, animals hate parasites too, and one parasite, the female horseflies (tanabids) can deliver one hell of a bite. Like female mosquitoes, they feed on mammal blood for reproduction, and they carry diseases too.Locally mosquitos transmit the dinofilaria (Heartworm) parasite to dogs and cats, so it makes sense from an evolutionary viewpoint to develop a natural "Frontline" so to speak.

Image: en.wikipedia.org

They lay their eggs on stones or vegetation close to water, guided by the horizontally polarized light reflected from the water surface. And these evil vampires are also guided to their meals via horizontally polarized light reflected from animal skin.

Image: whatis.techtarget.com

To test this, the team traveled to a horsefly-infested farm in Budapest and set up three horse model; a white, a dark, and a striped model. Interestingly, the striped model was the least attractive to horseflies. The team also varied the width, density, and angle of the stripes, and found out that narrower stripes attracted fewer tanabids.

The team pointed out that developing zebra embryos start out with a dark skin, only to develop white stripes afterwards. It's possible that evolution has favored the development of zebra stripes to confuse color-blind predators, as well as ward off blood-thirsty vampires.

Should we do the same to ward off mosquitoes? Who knows, perhaps I will develop a line of striped clothing for hikers and make a fortune warding off blood sucking insects. At the very least it may save you from a Lion attack.


info: 
Polarotactic tabanids find striped patterns with brightness and/or polarization modulation least attractive: an advantage of zebra stripes, Ádám Egri et. al, J Exp Biol 215,  March 1, 2012  736-745. 

Snakes

Snakes

A herpetologist at heart, a marine biologist by education, and a semi-professional animal keeper,  I'm interested in snakes, spiders, insects, and amphibians. Snakes are to me, particularly intriguing. The way they move, they slither through bushes and the final strike that numbs their prey. I also like the mystique associated with these serpents, and many of the myths surrounding them (They are NOT slimy).


Constrictors



Generally there are two types of snake; one that kills by using venom produced by their body, and the other using sheer strength to strangle their prey to death. You also have some that are a bit in between and instead of venom use teeth and tackle smaller prey, like Garter Snakes.

Anaconda, for example, is a constrictor. They have teeth that points backward to provide an even tighter grip on the victim. Once bitten, they would immediately wrap themselves around their prey. Once imprisoned in the embrace of death, it is very unlikely for the prey to escape.




A constrictor tightens its constriction every time the prey exhale, and with every breath the prey takes, it becomes harder to breathe. And finally you cant even expand your chest to breathe at all, and you die from suffocation.

Note that constrictors do not have venomous fangs. They rely purely on their muscle strength and stealth. Like their venomous counterpart, they also have infrared or heat detection pit near their mouth to help detect the body heat of their prey.

Apart from that, they also have a weapon in their tongue. The tongue is sensitive enough to detect the most minute change in chemical content of their environment.

Venomous Snakes

How to differentiate a venomous snake and a nonvenomous snake?
You do this by looking at the shape of their head - MOST OF THE TIME. Venomous snakes usually have a triangular-shaped head, meaning it's wider at the neck and narrower at the mouth. Nonvenomous snakes have a rather round-shaped head, which provides a firmer grip and more room more muscle. That said,  if in doubt, consider it venomous!



Apart from that, venomous snakes are usually smaller in size. The largest venomous snake, the King Cobra, is merely 3 meters in length. In the contrary, constrictors such as the Anaconda and Reticulated Python could grow up to 30 feet long(approximately 10 meters).

Constrictors grow to that length because they need enormous muscle and lengthy body to constrict their victims(It's not easy to constrict a deer you see....), while venomous snakes tackle smaller, faster mammals such as rats and squirrels. They do not need huge muscle mass as the venom could do the job for them.

The King Cobra, the largest venomous snake in the world, is hailed as god in India, despite hundreds of people being bitten by the species every year. One drop of King Cobra venom could kill up to 160 people.

The most venomous snake in the world, the sea snake, lives in waters off Indonesia and Sulawesi, though they can be found in other parts of the world too, mostly in the Pacific and Indian Ocean. They are relatively small, and their venom is almost 100 times more lethal than any other snakes. The reason why their venom is so potent is because they hunt fish for food.

And unlike land animals, fish could get away really fast. Land snakes can track their bitten prey through scent, but fish doesn't leave scent trails for sea snakes, so the sea snake need a venom potent enough to paralyze their victims before the prey gets too far.

Snakes are equipped with complicated senses to look out for their prey even in the darkest night. Once bitten, the venom would start to digest the prey from within.




There are four distinct types of venom; namely neurotoxin, hemotoxin, cytotoxin, and alsoproteolytic venom.
Each reacts differently based on the type of prey the snake consume.
But they all kill.

The only way to treat a snake bite is by using antivenom.

To produce antivenom, we need the venom from the snake.
First the snake will be milked, ie you often see in documentaries where the snake is forced to bite on a plastic sheet to release its venom into the jar. Then the yellowish venom would be diluted and injected into a large mammals' body, normally a horse. A horse immune system would develop antibody to counter the venom in say, two weeks time. Then the horse will undergo blood transfusion to draw out the blood, and within the blood lies the precious antibody we call antivenom to treat snake bite.

Unfortunately, snakes are threatened by extinction too. Snake skin is used to make bags and leather products, and there are also demands for snake bladder from the Chinese black market, as it believed that it could enhance their blood circulation.

Snake bladder

Snake wine

Deforestation, too, is killing snakes on a large scale. People also destroy snakes' nests and steal their eggs.



Although baby snakes are equipped with the essential survival tool  i.e venom and muscle, they are easy meal for birds and mongoose. Survival rate of young snakes is very low.



Religion, too is playing a part in the snakes' demise. In the bible, the snake is linked with the devil, and early missionaries condemned the worship of snake in India, and that eroded the protection of snake as well.




We should do something before this wonderful creature follows the path of other extincted animals. In general snakes are not a threat.  Around the farm they control rodents, which is a good thing. As long as a venomous snakes has not taken up residence in your garden, under the porch or in your shed, they will gladly leave us alone if we do the same for them.  Just be cautious of animals if you have a known venomous snake on the property as dogs and cats can get overly curious and end up bitten.

Some common snake myths:

Myth #1

Snakes are slimy and clammy to the touch.

Truth

This is incorrect. No snake is slimy. Their scales are actually quite smooth, and glides easily over skin; not an ounce of slime present. Likewise, snakes are not clammy. Depending on where you find one at, it will be either warm or cool to the touch. This is because snakes cannot create their own body heat. Therefore, they are the temperature of the environment where you find them.

Myth #2

All snakes have fangs, and a bite from one will hurt severely and lead to death.

Truth

Not all snakes have fangs, nor do they all have venom, and contrary to popular belief, many snake bites do not hurt.

Only venomous snakes have fangs: copperheads, cottonmouths, vipers, etc. Snakes such as boas and pythons do not possess fangs. A few species of snakes possess 'rear' fangs, such as a Hognose. However, these fangs are far back in the mouth, hence their name, and even if the snake does bite, you aren't likely to get caught by those rear fangs.

Usually, a snake bite does not hurt. Small colubrids, such as corn snakes and garters, rarely ever bite, and when they do, it is hardly painful. Even a larger snake will not hurt nearly like one would expect. The level of pain you feel comes down to what the snake wants you to feel. If it wants it to hurt, it will, no matter its size. Luckily, most are nothing more than pricks on the flesh.

Myth #3

Pet boas and pythons can eat you.

Truth

Not true. Most pet pythons and boas will never reach a size where that even becomes a possibility. Ball Pythons, Jungle Carpet Pythons, Red Tail Boas...none of these get anywhere near the size to eat their master.

Likewise, for those who keep Burmese, Reticulated Pythons, and Anacondas, the odds of being eaten by their snake are non-existent. Burmese have been known to kill their owners, usually because of the keepers' lack of knowledge and caution, but never has it been recorded of a pet snake eating its master.

Myth #4

Snakes carry large amounts of Salmonella, and will make you sick.

Truth

While snakes do carry Salmonella, the odds of becoming infected by it are very small, if properly cared for. One must use common sense when handling a snake. Never allow it in your mouth (I'm not aware of anyone who actually does this), and always wash your hands after handling the snake. Using an antibacterial gel works fine.

Always remove feces and urine from a snake's cage as soon as it happens, as the feces are where Salmonella is contracted. If your snake happens to slither through it, give the snake a warm bath to clean it, clean the bedding, and then replace the snake. Be sure to wash your hands.

Finally, be sure to scrub the cage once a month. Completely remove all objects, scrub the cage with a light bleach solution, rinse thoroughly, and after it has dried and has no fumes, replace everything. As long as the cage and snake are properly maintained, and you wash your hands, the odds of becoming sick from a snake are very slim.

Myth #5

Snakes can hypnotize humans and animals with their eyes.

Truth

This is not true. A snake cannot hypnotize a person or animal in any way.

Myth #6

Hoop snakes. This is by far my favorite myth, as I almost wish it was true. The myth goes that whenever a hoop snake is scared, it will bite its tail, form a circle-or hoop-shape, and then roll away like a wheel. Another version of the myth says that it will form a hoop shape and then chase the offender.

Truth

Unfortunately, this myth is just that-a myth. There is no such thing as a hoop snake. No snake will bite its tail and form a hoop; it is an anatomical impossibility for their body structure. If a snake is frightened, no matter the type, it will slither away on its belly, not roll away like a wheel.

Myth #7

Hognose snakes (also called Hoggies and Puff adders) can breathe out vaporous venom that is fatal up to a distance of about 20 - 25 feet.

Truth

Hoggies don't have vaporous venom-in fact, they don't have any venom. This myth likely originated because Hoggies, when threatened, will puff up their necks like that of a cobra, and hiss wildly. However, if you were to continue bothering it, it would eventually stop with the faux cobra act and flip over onto its back, becoming limp and lifeless. They are not poisonous, they are simply cowards.

Myth #8

A snake can only bite you if it is in a springing, coiled position.

Truth

I can speak from experience that this is indeed a myth. The scar between my right index finger and thumb from a very angry Ribbon snake attests to the fact that they can strike from any position, including from the feet of an over-anxious 11-year-old.

Myth #9

Milksnakes like to sneak up on cows and suck the milk right from its source.

Truth

Wrong! They may be called Milksnakes, but they are like any other snake. Try to give it milk, and you will get a very confused, possibly amused, Milksnake.

Myth #10

Last is the myth that there are cottonmouth snakes in the New England area.

Truth

This is false. There are no cottonmouth snakes in New England. They are very prominent in the Southeaster states, but are not found in the north. What most people assume is a cottonmouth is most likely a North Water snake. These snakes look nearly identical to a cottonmouth.

Animal Mimicry-- The Art of Deception

Mimicry is an art.

Human seeks to mimic animal call, other humans, a certain repertoire for the purpose of hunting, defence, or simply to entertain. But even a seasoned mimicry artist of our world would have paled in comparison to some of the masters of mimicry of the animal kingdom.

For them, mastering the art of mimicry is a matter of life or death.

A Stick Insect. Image:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phasmatodea

Most animals mimic to defend themselves. Some to attract mate, and some, for example chameleons
and alligator snapping turtles mimic(or camouflage) for food.

An Alligator Snapping Turtle. Image: www.itsnature.org

Yesterday I read this article about a phorid fly, Vestigipoda longiseta, from southeast Asia, that mimics ant larvae.

Image:http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/adult-fly-mimics-ant-larva/

The long “grubworm” part of the body is simply the enormously elongated and unpigmented abdomen of the adult. This has all evolved from an ancestor that looks pretty much like the flies you know.

You can imagine why natural selection would favor this resemblance: the ants tend and feed the larvae, and mistake the flies for their own brood. It’s a lifetime of free lunches! The ants also protect the flies and carry them (like they carry their own larvae) when a colony is on the move.

An adult of V. longiseta being carefully carried by an Aenictus ant. Image: http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/adult-fly-mimics-ant-larva/

Why can’t the ants detect these intruders? Well, they’re not terribly harmful, getting just a bit of food from the colony, so there’s probably not strong selection to weed them out. Ants, of course, have pretty bad vision, so they probably can’t see the intruders as different from their own brood. There’s probably chemical mimicry going on here as well: the hydrocarbon molecules on the fly’s cuticule may well resemble the compounds on ant larvae, so that the ants, who “taste” these hydrocarbons, are fooled by chemical mimicry.

Another master of mimicry that I would like to introduce to you all is the Mimic Octopus. Read my previous post~

A Mimic Octopus. Image: zmescience.com

And another one which really amazes me is the Superb Lyrebird. I remember watching a video about the mimicry power of this bird when I was in Form 2, and I thought it was fake. Given the handicapped technology of that time, and the level of maturity of the audience, I was unable to record the episode for further review.

A Superb Lyrebird. Image:cae2k.com

Nevertheless, I found this video on youtube yesterday. Watch as Sir David Attenborough (Sir David Attenborough is a fantastic naturalist; down-to-earth, full of knowledge, a titan of science) relates the ability of this bird to mimic the call of every other birds, including other sounds it hears: chainsaw, camera shutter, cars... FOR REAL!

A planthopper mimicking a leaf. Image:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mimicry_of_Siphanta_acuta_edit1.jpg

Image:falkenblog.blogspot.com

Image:http://conservationreport.com/2008/11/08/

Caterpillar mimicking a snake to scare off birds. Image: www.amnh.org

Dead-leaf butterfly. Image:http://conservationreport.com/2008/11/08/

How Mosquitoes Fly In The Rain

Have you ever wondered how insects, especially small ones like mosquitoes and flies survive the downpour?

Raindrops pose hazard to mosquitoes because of their relatively large mass and speed. A mosquito is around 2~5mm in length, weighs around 2mg, and flies at 1m/s. On the other end, a drop of rain has 1~4mm radius, weighs 2~50 times the weight of a mosquito, and travels at 5~9m/s. Putting that into perspective, it's like us getting hit by a blob of water with the size of a shopping cart, weighs 3 tons and travels at 18~32 km per hour.

It's an irony that the delicate blood-sucking parasite thrives in wet, rain-laden tropical country like Malaysia. Wouldn't they be crushed to death by the raindrops?

Image: en.wikipedia.org

Mechanical engineer David Hu of the Georgia Institute of Technology who thought of this question placed some mosquitoes in a cage and exposed them to water drops. Slow motion footage showed that rather than dodging the water drops, the insect flew right into the them.

Since the mosquitoes were so lightweight, the raindrops lost very little momentum upon impact. By minimizing resistance, the insect minimized the impact of collision. So instead of flattening the insect, the water drops simply spun the mosquitoes away, though the insects recovered soon afterward.
It's like an asteroid hitting a piece of paper: the paper is so lightweight that it's just pushed aside.

And nature has given mosquitoes a helping hand: mosquitoes are designed to be hydrophobic, thanks to the hairs on the mosquitoes' body. The hairy surface increases the wing's surface area, and thus its energetic cost of wetting. Thanks to this hydrophobicity, low speed drops simply bounce off the insect.

Image: rationaldiscoveryblog.com

Moreover, insects are blessed with hard exoskeleton to help them withstand the impact. And mosquitoes could withstand sudden acceleration of up to 300Gs. If we were in a comparable situation we wouldn't even survive past 2Gs.

Thanks to its tiny weight and hydrophobicity, the evil parasite lives to suck another victim.



info:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWyoy44oV3Q
http://discovermagazine.com/2012/mar/31-how-mosquitoes-survive-in-a-downpour
http://inkfish.fieldofscience.com/2012/06/why-you-cant-kill-mosquito-with.html

Pufferfish toxin

The Pufferfish is considered the second deadliest vertebrate in the world, after the Golden Poison Frog. The common image we have of this creature is that it inflates when threatened. I have kept these fish in an aquarium, and in my experience they rarely puff out in captivity.

What makes the Pufferfish, also called the Fugu so popular is the lethal toxin in its liver, skin and the ovaries, and the fact that the Japanese treat it as a delicacy. Pretty ironic I guess? By the way it is extremely expensive and prepared only by trained, licensed chefs who, like all humans, occasionally make mistakes.

Image: blogs.bootsnall.com

Almost all pufferfish contain tetrodotoxin, a substance that makes them foul tasting and often lethal to fish. To humans, tetrodotoxin is deadly, up to 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide. The toxin paralyzes the muscles, including the muscles in our diaphragm, which is essential for breathing. The victim eventually dies of asphyxiation. There is enough toxin in one pufferfish to kill 30 adult humans, and there is no known antidote. Tetrodotoxin has been isolated from widely differing animal species, including western newts of the genus Taricha (where it was formerly termed "tarichatoxin"), pufferfish, toads of the genus Atelopus, several species of blue-ringed octopuses of the genusHapalochlaena (where it was called "maculotoxin"), several sea stars, certain angelfish, a polyclad flatworm, several species of Chaetognatha (arrow worms), several nemerteans (ribbonworms) and several species of xanthid crabs.

Tetrodotoxin molecule

Image: gastroville.com

Negative aspects aside, Puffer Fish makes cute companion.

Of course, don't go around scaring puffer fish because a puffer fish could only perform a limited number of inflation in its life.

Image: animals.nationalgeographic.com

When a Pufferfish is threatened, it will pump itself up by taking 35 gulps or so in the course of 14 seconds. Each gulp draws in a big load of water thanks to some peculiar anatomic changes in the muscles and bones. The entire fish balloons as it continuously takes water into its stomach.

The stomach expands to nearly a hundred times its original volume, and the fish's spine, already slightly curved, bends into an upside-down U shape, and all other internal organs become squeezed between the fish's backbone and its rapidly expanding stomach. Meanwhile, the fish's skin is pushed out, obscuring most of the puffer's features-http://divingintaganga.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-and-why-pufferfish-inflate.html

Image: Sally J. Bensusen. American Museum of Natural History.

Sometimes they have difficulties expelling water from their stomach, and hence they actually risk dying every time they inflate. I guess we should record a default video showing one individual inflating itself on a public website to prevent curious divers/swimmers/fishers going around harming more Pufferfish. Pufferfish belong to family Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish of the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species, which are variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, bubblefish, globefish, swellfish, toadfish, toadies,honey toads, sugar toads, and sea squab. They are morphologically similar to the closely related porcupinefish, which have large external spines (unlike the thinner, hidden spines of Tetraodontidae, which are only visible when the fish has puffed up). The scientific name refers to the four large teeth, fused into an upper and lower plate, which are used for crushing the shells of crustaceans and mollusks, their natural prey.

With all of this, many people still consider Fugo to be a delicacy , especially in Japan.


info:
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/predatory/pufferfish.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugu
http://divingintaganga.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-and-why-pufferfish-inflate.html